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Full Restoration D91 MOP


bris jas
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I have been meaning to start this thread sometime ago but never got around to it. So here goe's!

Bought the car in March this year from one of the guys on here. I didn't see it before purchase but was given a good description so i took a chance.

Pretty much as expected apart from a few (as always) sections that hide away under carpets and behind wings etc. Its a 1986 GTE, 3 owners from new, 98k genuine miles.

I managed to track down the 2nd owner who had the car from 1988 until earlier this year when it  first changed hands. He had it on his drive way since its last MOT in 2005, nice chap and luckily had all MOT's from 1989 until 2005 and believe it all not they were all done at the same garage D&R Services, Arley.

I was really after a coupe to convert to a 400r but when this one turned up it was so original i couldn't do it so i am restoring to original. Even the spare wheel was still new and unused! Every clip was in place etc etc.

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First job was to completely strip the car and put it on a spit

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You know when the chasis is shot when you jack up the car and the jack goes up but the car doesn't move!

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I can go on showing lots of pic's of rust but i guess we've all seen rust although maybe not as bad as this one?

So first job was to replace both chassis legs, making sure the car was secure and supported.

I won't explain the process of welding up the the legs as there are a couple of links on the forum to show this. I got them from Eckhard in Germany, quality is second to none and highly recommend his Chassis legs.

More to follow as seem to of run out of space?

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First job was to remove N/S leg and rotten floor including jacking point.

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I bought a pair of floor sections from Retro Power. As the chasis legs come in 3 sections i had to weld them together before fitment

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Being 2 outer sections and 1 inner strengthener, only issue was they weren't long enough so i had to sleeve the rear section and extend further.

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Leg in place now and subframe bolted on to make sure all lined up, although this was a little bit of a headache as the O/S leg was completly rotten and missing so lots of measuring off different parts of the body. Floor just offered up at this point to make sure leg fits where it should.

Then floor back out to finish off welding up the chassis

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Onto the O/S

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TBC

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Yes thats pretty much exactly what i did, with these legs the inner strengthener section is longer than the outer so it allows you to did this. Once in i drilled 3 holes on both sides so i could plug weld through and then seemed welded around the whole of the leg (3 sides).

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Ok so onto the O/S

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As i didn't show this properly before this is the sections of chassis leg, i have tacked together the outer parts.

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So again as the other side i removed the leg and part of the floor, as you can see lots more work to do on the inner wing but left this in place for the time being as this will add a little strength to the shell with the leg missing.

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Ok so leg in and subframe in as well, at least this time i had the other leg to measure against so all square and fitting.

Now both legs are in and finished i can remove more of the rotten metal, believe me there is quite a lot to say the least!

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So now the car is the right way up i decided to concentrate on the O/S, so cill off, inner wing off, wing mount off, washer bottle section gone etc

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I welded the jacking point in first so as to give a little more strength, remember to change over the jacking eye as the one it comes with is to small and are jacks won't fit(thanks to James for that info).

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Inner wing section, wing rail and washer bottle section cut out.

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TBC

 

Edited by bris jas
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4 hours ago, bris jas said:

Yes thats pretty much exactly what i did, with these legs the inner strengthener section is longer than the outer so it allows you to did this. Once in i drilled 3 holes on both sides so i could plug weld through and then seemed welded around the whole of the leg (3 sides).

Ok. I will take a picture of a genuine chassis rail as they aren't straight. They have a slight kink as they come up and over the bulkhead 

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When it is in this condition and you are putting more strength in it, make sure you add some box section between the jacking point and a post bottom as they aren't connected at the factory and it gives the bottom of the a post better location and strength 

See here 

 

:thumbup

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Thanks for the comments guys. Kevin thanks for mentioning this, i have already gone past that point and i did strength the jacking point to the lower point of the pillar as you mentioned, i was surprised they weren't joined at the factory though.

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Washer bottle section first

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Little bit of bending and hammering and came up with this

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Cleaned up the area before i offered it up

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Couldn't find anymore pic's of that so jump forward to install of the new inner wing to A post section that i bought from Retro Power, a quality part. I had to fabricate a few more areas before moving onto the wing rail. Every area inside and out is treated to Hydrate 80

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Onto the outer light surround

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Cut away all rotten metal and fabricated a new section

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Just to recap i started this build back in April so don't think i did all this last night!B)

Edited by bris jas
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Ha Ha what you didn't do all this last night! 

Honestly its nice to see workmanship like this especially on a manta! all credit to you, I will be undertaking the chassis leg job on my car this winter. This build is going to be epic. 

What are your plans with the car?

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I have seen Manta's this rotten before, but they usually end up scraped for parts, your doing a geat job, being able to mash metal on a small scale i am particulary impressed with your washer bottle tray.

There is something so very satisfying about welding in fresh metal to a car, when this is Manta is complete you be able stand back, admire it and say to yourself ' Yes, i did that '

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Most coupes now are worth restoring no matter the condition. Good ones are selling for 10k and will only go up in value.

That is why my brother and I do not sell cars as projects anymore 

I despair at the coupes I have cut up in the past or stood upon in scrapyards

Hindsight would make me a rich man

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1 hour ago, Kevin Abbott said:

I despair at the coupes I have cut up in the past or stood upon in scrapyards

But the long term space this would require would be difficult to find, ideally undercover to stop them deteriorating to basket case state. I've only ever cut up two hatches and they were both in a desperate state but i have picked parts off many Coupes in scrap yards back in the 90's, i wished then i could have taken them home and stored them, i knew then one day there would be only a limited number left and everyone would want them.

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I agree they are worth saving and will only increase in value. To be honest though once i stripped this car down and stood back and looked at how rotten it was i had thought no not again!

I have 3 other Mantas, but i recently restored a Firenza Droopsnoot 1976, if this Manta is bad that was a basket case but all finished know and as Ian mentioned i do stand back and look at it and admire what i have achieved (full build on DSG forum. Reg KSJ 973P).  All you guys that have done these projects know what we mean!

So on with the build.

Now that the front corner is done i then moved backwards a long the O/S. Complete cill was removed, rear arch and part of the inner and rear floor section

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Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

Firstly i fabricated a piece to repair the floor section

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Outer cill is welded on and i had to repair the section of the inner cill behind the b post, there are 3 different sections that meet here so a lot to rebuild. (sorry couldn't find a picture of that which is annoying)

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Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

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Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

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Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

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New arch fitted

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TBC

 

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19 hours ago, Kevin Abbott said:

Most coupes now are worth restoring no matter the condition. Good ones are selling for 10k and will only go up in value.

That is why my brother and I do not sell cars as projects anymore 

I despair at the coupes I have cut up in the past or stood upon in scrapyards

Hindsight would make me a rich man

Youre making up for it now :thumbup I love this thread amazing build!!!!!!

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Ok so O/S finished with all nice clean solid metal. Onto the N/S!

Firstly removed all of the floor that was rotten along with part of the wheel arch section and inner wing

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Again floor section from RetroPower, it comes a lot larger than the piece i cut down to use so if your floor has gone wider and about 4" longer it would still fit.

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Just rested in place so i could start fabricating the arch section as i needed to remove it a couple of times to make panels fit better.

Making sure all edges were clean and treated i offered up the new inner wing to pillar section again from RetroPower.A few tweaks and it fits spot on.

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I could then weld the floor in and finish making a section for the inner arch

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Next its onto the battery tray!

 

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